Top Albums from A-Z

[SaltwaterChaffy]

I'm bored, so I figured this would be a fun topic. I'll go back in and write explanations for my choices later, but for now, just pick your favorite albums for every letter of the alphabet. For the most part, I'm going to stick with Artist name as the beginning letter, but on times I get stuck, I might cheat and go with Album name. Feel free to do whichever you choose.

Arcade Fire - Funeral
Beatles - Rubber Soul
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - s/t
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
Eric Clapton - Unplugged
Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
the Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
Handsome Boy Modeling School - So, How's Your Girl
Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power
John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
Kanye West - Late Registration
Lou Reed - Transformer
Mars Volta - De-loused in the Comatorium
Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over the Sea
Outkast - Stankonia
Pink Floyd - Animals
Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
Radiohead - OK Computer
Sublime - 40 oz. to Freedom
Tom Waits - Mule Variations
Unplugged in New York - Nirvana
Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico
White Stripes - De Stijl
X - whoops, couldn't come up with one
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco
Z - My Morning Jacket

[chumdawg]

How about Oranges and Lemons by XTC?

[sike]

Led Zep IV

[mercury_rev]

XTC -- Skylarking.

Or maybe Under the Big Black Sun by X

[sike]

this may be criminal but what about instead of rubber soul:
Beach Boys, The: Pet Sounds?

and if you want to count the boys as "the beach boys" pet sounds certainly comes before freakin tom waits....

[Five-ofan]

I will get roasted for this but for C
Creed - My own prison Utterly amazing cd though only 11 songs.
Dark side of the moon was better than animals too for pink floyd.
For O the oasis CD with Champagne supernova
For I - Incubus with stellar and Pardon me.
forgot the cd names on the last 2.

Will come back with some more.

[Five-ofan]

For M I would go with mudvayne the end of all things to come but the mars volta are fine if you prefer that kind of music.

[NXperience]

Okay I'm trying to do my own =D

ABBA - Abba Gold GReatest Hits // Arrival
Bonnie Tyler - Best of // and as a "normal" Album Faster then the speed of Night
Coldplay - Parachutes // Cher - Believe
Dire Straits - Dire Straits
Evanescence - Fallen
Frank Sinatra - Our Town
Gabrielle - Rise
High and Mighty Color - Goofer (I could bet that just Evil (maybe) has heard about them ^^)
I -------
Jamiroquai - Synkronized
Kai Tracid - Trance & Acid
Ladytron - 604
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Nelly Furtado - Whoa Nelly // Norah Jones - Come Awy with me
Omara Portuondo & Martin Rojas - Omara Portuondo & Martin Rojas (both from Buena Vista Social Club)
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Queen - A night at the Opera // or Best of
Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Californication
Supertramp - Crime of the Century
Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman
U2 - Under a blood red Sky (live)
Village People - Can't stop the music (Everyone loves YMCA )
Wir sind Helden - Die Reklamation ^^
Xzibit - Restless
Y -------
Zarah Leander - Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein?

[SaltwaterChaffy]

Thanks to NX for someone finally doing one by themselves.

I knew I would catch shit from sike for leaving off Zeppelin, but whaddya gonna do? Also, there were many times I had to make tough decisions. Rubber Soul vs. Pet Sounds was one of the really tough choices for me. Choosing a Pink Floyd album was also tough, but Animals is probably my favorite one, plus I like to go somewhat unconventional sometimes.

Also, don't hate on Tom Waits, that album is awesome. Sike, I'm pretty sure you've listened to my show enough to know that I am a huge Tom Waits fan.

Anyway, I want to compliment/insult more people's lists, so post away!

[sike]

Originally Posted by SaltwaterChaffy

Thanks to NX for someone finally doing one by themselves.

I knew I would catch shit from sike for leaving off Zeppelin, but whaddya gonna do? Also, there were many times I had to make tough decisions. Rubber Soul vs. Pet Sounds was one of the really tough choices for me. Choosing a Pink Floyd album was also tough, but Animals is probably my favorite one, plus I like to go somewhat unconventional sometimes.

Also, don't hate on Tom Waits, that album is awesome. Sike, I'm pretty sure you've listened to my show enough to know that I am a huge Tom Waits fan.

Anyway, I want to compliment/insult more people's lists, so post away!

love waits sure.....but over pet sounds? to quote ralph, "That's Umpossible!"

[SaltwaterChaffy]

Perhaps. I also made that list at 3:30 in the morning, and was trying to adhere to artist name first as best I could. I only wavered with stuff like Z and Y because it's tougher to find.

[NXperience]

Hmmmm maybe I'll edit my list later on a bit I'm sure I missed some gems but I did it late in the night and there are so many Albums out there worth to be mentioned

And I don't know many of the Albums you got in your list maybe I should take em as inspiration to hear something new =D

[chumdawg]

American Music Club - Everclear
Beautiful South - 0898
Cash, Johnny - Solitary Man
Divine Comedy - A Secret History (best of)
Erasure - Wild
Flaming Lips - Soft Bulletin
Grandaddy - Sophtware Slump
Hefner - Boxing Hefner
Icicle Works - If You Want to Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song
Love and Rockets - Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven
Material Issue - International Pop Overthrow
Nancy Boy - s/t
Old 97's - Fight Songs
Pulp - Different Class
Queen - Gold
Radiohead - The Bends
Suede - Coming Up
The Polyphonic Spree - Beginning Stages of...
Uncle Tupelo - No Depression
Verve - Urban Hymns
Whiskeytown - Strangers Almanac
XTC - Oranges and Lemons
ZZ Top - Eliminator (ugh)

[SaltwaterChaffy]

I wavered between Yoshimi and Bulletin for my Flaming Lips choice, chum.

You seem to got for a lot of the alt-country stuff. I need to get more into that genre.

Also, Planet Telex isn't an album. It's off Radiohead's "The Bends" unless you've got some import.

[Big Boy Laroux]

good call on O, chumdawg.

I'm gonna try this with my personal favorites, out of my collection. If it was somewhat difficult to make my decision, i'll list a runner-up.

A - Adams, Ryan & The Cardinals - Cold Roses
B - Buckley, Jeff - Grace
C - Counting Crows - August and Everything After (runner-up - Clyne, Roger & The Peacemakers - Honky Tonk Union)
D - Drake, Nick - Way to Blue
E - "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" Soundtrack (if that doesn't count, then Everclear - So Much for the Afterglow)
F - Fountains of Wayne - Fountains of Wayne (runners-up - some Ben Folds CDs and Foo Fighters)
G - Guster - Lost and Gone Forever (runners-up - all other Guster cds, Green Day- American Idiot, "Garden State" Soundtrack, and Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destruction
H - Hootie and the Blowfish - Cracked Rear View
I - INXS - Shine Like it Does
J - Jack Johnson - Brushfire Fairytales (runner-up - Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American)
K - Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak (runners-up - Killers - Hot Fuss and Keane - Hopes and Fears)
L - Lennon, John - Imagine
M - Matchbox 20 - Yourself or Someone Like You
N - Nelson, Willie - A Horse Called Music
O - Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (runner-up - Old 97's - Fight Songs)
P - Pearl Jam - Ten (runners-up - Pink Floyd - The Wall and Postal Service - Give Up)
Q - No Q in my collection, believe it or not
R - Ryan, Matthew - May Day (runners-up - other Matthew Ryan CDs and Refreshments, The - Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big and Buzzy)
S - Schneider, Bob - Lonelyland (runner-up - Sweet, Matthew - Time Capsule)
T - Tonic - Lemon Parade
U - U2 - The Joshua Tree
V - "Varsity Blues" Soundtrack
W - Weezer - Weezer (Blue Album) (runners-up - White Stripes CDs and Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot)
X - No X artists, so X&Y - Coldplay
Y - Yorn, Pete - Musicforthemorningafter
Z - No Z in my collection

[chumdawg]

Originally Posted by SaltwaterChaffy

I wavered between Yoshimi and Bulletin for my Flaming Lips choice, chum.

You seem to got for a lot of the alt-country stuff. I need to get more into that genre.

Also, Planet Telex isn't an album. It's off Radiohead's "The Bends" unless you've got some import.

I took the Bulletin mostly because it was my introduction to the band, and I always favor those albums. Yoshimi is one hell of an album, though, for an album's sake, and on those merits I would probably have to place it first. But then again, for originality's sake I was loathe to list an album someone else had listed. Still and all, throw them in a hat and I will gladly take either.

Thanks for the correction on Radiohead. I knew that looked wrong to me. The truth is that I was using Google Music to double-check myself on some album titles that I wasn't 100% confident in, and it led me astray on this one. Don't know why it should've, though. "The Bends" is among my all-time favorites. (Strangely enough, I don't understand why "OK Computer" is supposed to be so much better. I suppose that I should listen to it more closely. I guess "The Bends" is an "easier" listen, which is probably the reason I favor it, as I'm not exactly a Radiohead nut or anything. Hell, for that matter, I enjoy "Pablo Honey," which I understand is panned by Radiohead diehards. Oh, and can some tell me where "Rabbit in the Headlights" comes from? I pulled that from Napster some years back. I think it's Radiohead and UNKLE, whoever that is. Cool track.)

Yes, give me some alt-country. I'd have loved to include some Gram Parsons or "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" by The Byrds with Parsons aboard, but I had stronger feelings about my B and P choices. (Anyone else a fan of that Pulp album? I thought it was superlative, start to finish.)

I also wish I could have placed Son Volt on my list, but I had to give credit to Suede's "Coming Up" for being a stronger work overall, and I wanted to give a nod to some Brit-pop, which I was heavily into for a while. (I know that "Coming Up" is not critically regarded as Suede's best piece of work, but it's the one I prefer.)

The Uncle Tupelo album...man, that's on my life list. Just can't say enough good things about it.

I'd have also liked to have included some more local bands: Slobberbone (now the Drams, after a change of personnel), Centro-Matic, and Pleasant Grove. Anyone here seen any of these bands live? What a freakin' show, Slobberbone and Centro-matic.

Nice list, Big Boy. I need to listen to more Bob Schneider. I heard an album once and was highly impressed, but I never went and bought it. I may do so on your recommendation. I'm also a fan of Ryan Adams. Man, I can't remember the album title right now, but I think it was his first one, that I was really fond of.

I also considered some Fountains of Wayne. And that Pete Yorn album is terrific.

Nice to see you mention Matthew Sweet. If you at all dig power pop, you should really check out some Material lssue if you haven't already. For my money, "International Pop Overthrow" is the best power pop album ever made.

[Big Boy Laroux]

Material issue... i'll have to check it out.

I have the two Bob Schneider major releases ("lonelyland" and "I'm Good Now"). Both are really, really good. funny thing is that I bought "lonelyland" because I was in a tower records up here in Nashville and saw this cd packaged with a t-shirt for $9. being frugal, i thought, "hey, what a deal!". So i bought it, even though i'd never heard of the guy. but i LOVED the cd. The first song, "Metal and Steel" is one of my all-time favorite songs.

as for fountains of wayne, i have all the cds they've released. They're good, but the others don't come close to the first one (self-titled). I wore out that disc in college.

[chumdawg]

Nine bucks for a disc and a tee is quite the bargain. Hell, these days, nine bucks for a disc is good enough!

I bet that's the same Bob Schneider album I listened to. I remember putting on the first track and thinking: yeah, this'll do.

The s/t Fountains of Wayne is the one I wore out, too. Satisfying.

The Material Issue is well worth a listen. The frontman, Jim Ellison, took his life a few albums in, but at least he left us with the masterpiece that is "International Pop Overthrow." It's the kind of album that you listen to in the car with the knob turned way up and the windows down. They did a few albums after that are worthy of listen if you are a fan, and they have some rare tracks that please, but the bulk of their best work can be found on that one album. "Valerie Loves Me" and "Renee Remains the Same" are the most memorable tracks, but my personal preference is "Very First Lie." Very, very much power pop...but very, very good power pop.